I met Clarence ''Leo" Fender in 1984 at the USA summer NAMM show. I saw him sitting alone and thought this was my chance and I would regret it all my life if I didn't. He was getting on by then but still took the time to answer my many eager questions about the early Fender days in the '50's and 60's. Questions that few people were interested in (back then) like ''how many pieces of wood the Strat bodies were made of'' and ''how many guitars a day they made''. He kindly answered to the best of his recollection but I quickly got the impression that Leo was first and foremost an engineer and a designer. He couldnt wait to take one of the pens from his shirt pocket (complete with plastic protector) and start sketching a new tremelo system or a new tube amp. He was soft spoken and humble. I was on a high for the whole 20 minutes.
He never played but he loved the guitar and the people who played it. This was the man who created the Telecaster and the Stratocaster but couldn't play them. Designs of such importance they are still studied today. By 1965 he had sold Fender to CBS (yes, that CBS) for a cool $13 million dollars....thats about $200 million in todays money. He said he tried retiring but didn't like it. I think he mentioned he came deep sea fishing once in Cairns. I don't think he was ever motivated by or that interested in money. I got someone to take a photo of us both, we shook hands and parted company. He died a few years later but it was a meeting that shaped my life from that day forward, and has led me to this point where I now stock nothing but Fender Guitars, and my store the Guitar Lounge.
Leo and myself in 1984
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